On Fibrous Covering. 
279 
the year — May and June — and that during the period, and previous to 
it, there had not been a drop of rain. He however observed in passing, 
that " he believed the dry weather had little to do with it. He had 
produced the same increase on some of his damp alluvial marshes on 
the banks of the Tamar; he had also produced it in running streams." 
He however wished particularly to be understood that he did not regard 
water and rain as the same thing. He laid particular stress on this 
point, for it was one in which he believed the principle was involved. 
Rain, in vegetation, did not act simply as water — it was not to water 
alone that its benefit was due. A recollection of the phenomenon he 
had alluded to on a former occasion showed this, if no further inquiry 
had sulisequentlv been made. The action of fibrous covering had been 
strong during the month of March, w lien there was plenty of rain. It 
might be supposed that, by this extraordinary excitement, the ground 
would be exhausted. This did not appear to be the case; but suj)- 
posing it to be so in the ratio of its production, the manure capalle of 
being made from the increased quantity would fertilise tiie land in tiie 
same if not in greater proportion : it would be returned again to soil, 
and supply that which had been taken away. In other words, he said, 
" the inorganic matter of the soil would by this process be converted 
into organic matter, and when dro])ped by animals become a most 
powerful manure, by the process intended by nature for improvement 
and regeneration." Any person might make an experiment to satisfy 
himself of the peculiar action he had communicated. A bundle of 
straw, say 40 lbs., strewed lightly over two or three roods of growing 
grass, would in a very short time show the effect when raked off. 
It should be relaid again; after about a week or ten days, it might 
again be examined, and the amount of action judged of by comparing 
it to the other parts of the field." This communication was made 
in the beginning of June, and a great many experiments were imme- 
diately instituted by the members of our Society. All gave uniform 
results, when conducted fairly. Some used too much covering, but 
generally too little. The results of those experiments were very inte- 
resting. They showed that the action was general — that the difference 
in increase of growth, in a given time, was in proportion to the natural 
fertility of the soil. On some of the coarse moors where experiments 
were tried, the increase of growth was very slow as compared to better 
soils. It was found that the rate of action also was influenced by arti- 
ficial manuring, and that the increase of vegetation was in a ratio with 
the natural quantity that would be produced by a given manure when 
laid on a field, and not assisted by the operation of any fibrous covering. 
A certain quantity of stall dung, which would double the quantity of 
grass in a given time when laid on in the usual way, was found to in- 
crease it to six times, when properly treated with fibrous covering. I 
made a careful analysis of the herbage produced by this action, and also 
that of the same ground left open. I was assisted by Mr. Gurney and 
other analytical chemists in these inquiries. We could find no notable 
difference in the proportions of organic or inorganic elements contained 
in the one or the other : they were the same, so far as w e could discover 
by chemical analysis. I have since, on the continent, found the same 
